Cinema Oneshot
by Rav3n Qween
Summary: He was a cinema attendant. She was... an average customer. But somewhere in the midst of the movie, she was left alone in the dark. Cleaning was just another duty he had to do, but comforting and loving her was his choice.


**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, despite how much I would like to.**

 **This is just an AU Oneshot. Hope you like it, leave a review if you want more, and with help for my writing.**

He watched the young couples, families and individuals enter as usual, tearing off the edges of their tickets, thinking of the movie they would be watching and remembering the heartbreak and loneliness he had felt when his first girlfriend, Drew, had cheated on him and dumped him.

 _On a day just like any other he had entered the cafeteria late, due to Mrs Dodds, his evil maths teacher giving him extra work. There was a large circle joining around two people with chants of "Kiss kiss" being called, Percy ignored it and went to sit with his girlfriend Drew, but she wasn't there; so, he decided to sit with his group of friends. Grover, Annabeth, Piper, Jason and Leo had been waiting there as usual but as he sat down they glanced nervously at each other. After an awkward pause Annabeth cleared her throat, "you might want to find out what all that shouting is about" she stuttered, Percy frowned and stood up. He walked over to find a boy and a girl kissing, their hands were roaming each other and neither of them seemed eager to come up for air anytime soon._

 _Percy squinted, noticing the bracelet he had bought for Drew the other day on the girls wrist._

 _The couple finally separated and the girl, who Percy now noticed was Drew giggled into the boy's neck "Oh Luke, you're so talented". Percy took a step towards them and finally Luke, Percy's rival and longtime crush of Annabeth, looked over. "Hey Percy" he said with a smirk on his face, Drew also looked over and stroked Luke's biceps whilst they smiled like devils. "Drew... how… how could you?" asked Percy, "Because Luke is far better than you'll ever be, he's a real man" she crooned._

 _Percy was hurt, disgusted and heartbroken at the same time, why would she? "And not just Luke" Drew continued, "the entire football team is better than you, on and off the field if you know what I mean". Percy threw up inside his mouth, this Drew was one he had hoped to change… but he was too hurt to care._

 _He ran from the room, followed by the laughter of Luke and Drew and the aggrieved calls of Annabeth, Piper, Grover, Leo and Jason._

 _Annabeth finally found him later and comforted him, but Percy never viewed love the same after that._

It was Saturday, and Percy was at his weekend job - taking the tickets at his local movie cinema. For almost a month, he had been at this job. The pay was good, $13.00 an hour, and he could sometimes sneak into the cinema if it was late. Today he was waiting at the entrance to theatre 7, which was playing "Love, Simon".

"Excuse me", he realized that he had been playing with a rubber band, this had become a habit after the cafeteria incident, and looked up. It was Annabeth standing there with a greeting smile on her face and two tickets in her hand. "Hey Annabeth, you got a date to watch this movie with? Or just with Piper as usual?" Percy teased lightly. "She's with me" a smug voice sounded over the noise of the mall outside. It was Luke, striding over with a venomous smile on his face. Percy clenched his jaw, "Luke" he said then clamped teeth. "Percy" replied Luke in a mocking tone, "Have fun out here" he continued before striding into the theatre, one arm around Annabeth's waist.

Percy stood frustrated by the door for the next few minutes, pissed off at Luke and feeling betrayed by Annabeth. A dark-haired girl walked up and gave him a ticket before quickly entering the theatre as well, she kept her head down and avoided Percy's gaze.

He shrugged at the strange behavior and went back to collecting the increasing flow tickets, since the movie began in just 5 minutes.

He sat in silence whilst the movie played, contemplating what this meant. Luke and Annabeth had always had soft spots for each other and, despite Percy's warnings, Annabeth had carried a hard crush on Luke into her adolescent years. His best friend, with his worst enemy… he sighed and carried the tickets back to his manager, Reyna.

"34 tickets, Percy we sold 40 today for this movie, unless 6 people bought these tickets on the spot and then left, you were clearly distracted" Reyna's tough voice cut through Percy's thoughts. "And so, you can clean the theatre after the movie has finished", Percy sighed loudly and looked around the cinema. "For free" Reyna added. Percy opened his mouth to complain but knowing Reyna, he quickly shut it. She was strong and tough, but not particularly compassionate.

He waited in peace, taking the tickets for theatre 8 before sending his mum a quick text notifying her that he wouldn't be home until later. He then proceeded to open the doors to theatre 7, watching the people stagger out in a daze as they always did, he found this a highlight of his job, and then proceeded to grab the mop and brush from the storeroom. He was in the theatre, picking up the popcorn remains and sweeping down the seats when he heard a sort of wet sobbing echoing from the back corner.

As he walked up the stairs towards the source of the sound he set down the mop and brush along the arm of a seat in case he needed both arms for whatever this would require. When he reached the top and looked right, towards the back corner, he saw a curled figure crying. He slowly walked down the aisle and touched the shoulder of the girl. "Excuse me, I'm afraid I will have to ask you to...", he trailed off as the girl turned her head and looked at him. It was Annabeth.

Her eyes were red from crying and quickly diverted when they saw him. "Annabeth, what happened?", Percy asked. Annabeth ignored him and went back to burying her face in her hands. Percy gently and slowly peeled her hands away, holding them and looking her in the eye. "Annabeth, what happened?". She hiccupped and told him, "Luke, he... he left me for Drew". 'That son of a bitch' thought Percy. "How, why?" he asked. "When we were watching the movie, Drew came up and they… they started kissing. I asked what was happening but all I got was a note saying 'You're dumped'" she managed to say before crying.

"Hey, don't cry" Percy told her. "Luke was clearly an asshat if he thought that anyone like Drew was better than you. And if he dumped you, well… there's a reason he failed his last test then".

"Percy, I'm sorry" Annabeth slowly said. "I've been ignoring you recently, just for Luke"

"Look at me" Percy said, hoping his eyes were saying what he wanted them to... 'I'm not mad'. "I could never hate you, you've always been a great friend. And I've love you no matter what". With that he leaned in and kissed her, Annabeth slowly responded but it set off fireworks in his chest, his head and everywhere else on his body.

That day they both lost their love demons, heart break and loneliness, finding comfort in one another.

Percy was also fired.


End file.
